WorldSBK Qatar Practice Results: Davies bounces back to top FP

Chaz Davies topped the timesheets as the final round of the 2019 WorldSBK Championship kicked off with free practice at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

The Welshman crashed in FP1 to limit his track time earlier on in the day, but under the cloak of darkness and Losail’s floodlights he was the rider to beat in FP2.

With both Davies and Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Alvaro Bautista – together with privateer Panigale V4 R riders Eugene Laverty and Michael Ruben Rinaldi - posting superior top speeds down the long home straight, Davies proved tough to beat against the clock.

Almost three tenths quicker than opposition, he out-dragged Jonathan Rea on the Kawasaki, while Bautista slingshot a 322km/h top speed – 7km/h faster than even Davies on the same bike – to go third best.

Toprak Razgatlioglu prepared for his final race as a Kawasaki rider in fourth position, ahead of future Yamaha team-mate Michael van der Mark and BMW’s Tom Sykes.

Alex Lowes paid the price for a crash in the morning but recovered for seventh, heading off the impressive Markus Reiterberger, who was eighth best despite being 15km/h down on Bautista.

Sandro Cortese and Loris Baz completed the combined top ten, the latter the only rider not to improve his time in FP2.

WorldSBK Qatar Free Practice Results [Combined]